The chair opened the meeting by firstly welcoming all to the AGM and by thanking Vilamoura for hosting the meeting and Doris Hewer, in particular, for her assistance in making the arrangements once again.

1) Approval of Minutes from 2016 AGM

The minutes from the last AGM were approved as written. The chair advised that the action to establish an annual match between the InterClub Champions and their equivalent in the Lisbon area had been abandoned through lack of interest and will therefore not be pursued further.

2) Apologies for Absence

Keith Roberts, Carvoeiro

3) Management Committee Report.

The report, which was sent to all member clubs before the meeting, was presented by the Chairman.

He began by once again congratulating all clubs on a successful 2017 season and highlighted what he believed to be a successful conclusion of the three year trial period of the three division structure. He confirmed that Alto were the overall InterClub league Champions for 2017 with Parque de Floresta second and congratulated Quinta do Largo on winning Division 2 and also promoted Vila Sol & Carvoeiro and Penina on winning Division 3 and also promoted Vilamoura & Vale do Lobo.

The Chair then congratulated the second Knock Out Cup winners Vila Sol who overcame Penina in a closely fought match played at Palmares in September.

The Chair went on to say that 2017 had been a relatively quieter year for the MC than the previous year and that only a small number of issues required attention by them. There were no questions from the floor in respect of the report.

4) Application Costa Esuri

Next the chair introduced the proposal, circulated previously to all clubs, regarding theapplication of Costa Esuri Golf Clubs request to join the InterClub League. Castro Marim, as the proposing club were then asked to speak on behalf of the applicants. Mark Compsty gave a brief report highlighting what he saw as the pros and cons in relation to the application. In conclusion he felt that the major issue they had to overcome was that of membership of the FPG and that joining as individual members of the FPG was not an ideal solution.

The chair then called for a vote on whether the application from Costa Esuri should be accepted.

The proposal was defeated by a majority vote against.

Action: MC to advise Costa Esuri of the decision to refuse membership.

5) Rule Changes for 2018

The MC put forward a proposed rule change in respect of the chosen tees for Ladies. This rule change was prompted by one member club asking visiting ladies to play from the yellow tees, albeit with appropriate slope adjustment. The MC consider this to be outwith the spirit of the InterClub and propose that the rule should be that Ladies always play from the Home clubs Ladies "Competition Tees" which in most cases would be the Red tee. In addition the MC would like all Captains to submit to the MC copies of their scorecards showing both Mens and Ladies competition tees they intend playing from in 2018.

A vote was called on this proposed change and it was carried unanimously.

The next item discussed was whether the existing Match meal fee should be increased from 25€ to 30€. The rationale being that the current price ceiling has been in place for a number of years now. A lively debate then took place with a variety of opinions being expressed by Doris Hewer,Vilamoura, Mark Compsty , Castro Marim and the representatives from both Levante and Penina. The majority of which were why change and that the current maximum suited most clubs.

A vote was called and the majority view voted in favour of retaining the current 25€ max for after match meals.

With regard to the Knock Out Cup final it was discussed and agreed that the current subsidy of the event by the MC with both Green fee and lunches paid should be changed. In future the MC will only pay for the Green Fees and the individual participants will pay for their own lunches upto the agreed max of 25€.

The MC reported that as they had to subsidise the last Finals Day in November the proposal was to increase the finals day match fee from 60€ to 70€ ( comprising 40€ for green fee & 30€ for lunch). However, following the previous discussion on meal fees the proposal was reduced to 65€. The majority voted in favour of the proposal.

6) Proposal from Castro Marim on Match Scoring system

Mark Compsty put forward the proposal that the scoring system should be changed to award 2 bonus points for an away win and 1 point for an away draw. The Chair reminded the meeting that this had been the system some years ago and that the MC analysis of 2017 results suggested that if implemented it would not have materially changed the outcome of the leagues final positions. The MC also indicated that to change back to this scoring system would involve a possible outlay of 200€ plus on changing the website.

A vote was taken and 6 clubs voted in favour and 10 voted against. The scoring will remain unchanged.

7) Financial Report

The report was presented and accepted by the meeting as written. The carried over position at year end was lower than the previous year which is why the MC proposed increasing the subscription to the previous level of 125€ for 2018. However, with the impact of some of the decisions taken at this AGM there is no reason why it might not be reduced for 2019.

Post Meeting note: Coffees for the AGM cost €121.50 so the carried over balance is €1,147.80

8) Handicap Review.

The Chair outlined to the meeting the background contained in the annual report and confirmed that to date, despite continued post match grumblings about some players handicaps, no single issue had been reported to the MC. The MC propose therefore to carry out a trial review of a sample selection of three clubs. This review would require the Captains of those selected to provide the playing records for 2017 of those players who played 5 or more times in the InterClub league. Further the MC propose that for the trial the three divisional winners be the trialists.

A short but lively discussion ensued with a number of differing views expressed and generally most seeming in favour of the trial commencing.

The vote taken showed unanimous support in favour of the proposed trial.

9) MC Sanctions.

This issue was raised in the Management Report and the chair outlined briefly why it was on the agenda for discussion. He stated it was the view of the MC that they would rather not have any issues to deliberate on and therefore not need to impose any subsequent sanctions. However, the MC did feel that it was worthy of a debate to see what member clubs felt.

Mark Compsty of Castro Marim felt that it was appropriate for the MC to have some form of sanction available to them be that suspending from play individuals or clubs or alternately imposing points reductions. Michael Abbott of PDF suggested that maybe when issues arose the MC could garner the opinions of ALL Captains to arrive at a suitable resolution. Whilst most clubs agreed with the sentiment of Michael's suggestion it was felt impractical given the potentially diverse views for the MC to manage. However the mood of the meeting seemed in favour of the MC having some form of sanction available to them.

Post Meeting note: The MC upon reflection after the meeting feel that it would be appropriate, as in the case of the issue raised in their report, for the MC to co-opt on a case by case basis one or two representatives from other clubs to deliberate and agree action as appropriate. To this end the MC will draw up a draft additional rule and circulate to Captains for discussion.

10) Close of Meeting.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their contribution and wished them a successful season.

Steve Edwards of Serra de Monchique proposed a vote of thanks on behalf of all member clubs to the MC for their continued sterling work on the clubs behalf. On behalf of the MC these thanks are much appreciated

Encl.: Financial Report updated

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MC Actions arising from the meeting:

Update the revised InterClub rules on the website

Circulate the AGM Minutes and post on website

Advise Costa Esuri of non acceptance decision.

Clubs to provide to MC with scorecards showing the competition tees for men & ladies for 2018.

This web site is for the golfers in the Algarve who wish to keep up to date with the latest status in the InterClub League. The authorised member of each Golf Club can directly enter the results of the League competitions using this system.